The Devil in Daniel Johnston

By: Aiman Safwan Zin

A picture of Daniel Johnston during the interview. Source from The New Yorker

Daniel Johnston is a very complicated figure in the music industry. If you want to explore his life further, A documentary that is interesting that recommend being watching is the phenomenal documentary The Devil in Daniel Johnston.

Even a lot of the appeal to Daniel Johnston doesn't have so much to do with him being a 'genius' or uniquely talented. However, the interesting part of the music is there are so much as the feeling of honesty and authenticity behind his music.

It would be difficult to make an argument that Daniel Johnston is just in it for the money or is just in it for the fame and fortune because his brain can't even process those things in the way most people do. So he's just making music for pure expression's sake, which is deeply refreshing.

That being said, I, personally, have some issues with a lot of the Daniel Johnston hero-worship, because to me it feels like we're exploiting someone who is genuinely mentally ill for our own entertainment and aesthetic principles.

For me, He is a talented human being, a very honest and open human being, but also a deeply troubled person and when we say things like "he's so brilliant" or "I wish more musicians were like him" we lose sight of the high treasure that should be valued.